This invention generally relates to a method of controlling and monitoring a store connected to an armament station, and more particularly, to such a method that may be used to control and to operate a plurality of different types of stores.
Modern military operations may involve a large number of different types of stores, which may be very different from each other. For example, the stores may be weapons, such as weapons referred to as AMRAAM, WALLEYE II, HARM, OR SIDEWINDER; the stores may be weapon control or monitoring equipment, observation equipment or other spying devices, the stores, may be communication equipment, or the stores may be other military equipment such as electronic jamming devices. These various stores have substantially different capabilities and support requirements, and operate in very different manners.
Many conventional stores are highly complex and include a programmed microprocessor that interacts with an external, programmed controlling processor to operate and to monitor operation of the store. For example, such a store may be connected to an armament station that has been, or is subsequently, provided with the appropriate controlling microprocessor program to operate the store. Commonly, for at least many of today's more sophisticated stores, unique controlling programs are provided for each type of store, and a program designed for use with one type of store cannot readily be used with any other type of store. This has a disadvantage in that, once an armament station has been loaded with a store control program designed for use with a particular store, that control program must be unloaded from the armament station and a different controlling program must be loaded thereinto before the armament station can be used with a different store.